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Stephanie Janyk is thrilled she will be able to see her brother Mike this weekend – firsthand — as he competes in Austria at the Alpine Skiing World Cup.

“I’m ecstatic,” said the 27-year-old Vancouver resident, who found out Monday that one of her brother’s sponsors, Sport Chek, will send her to Austria on an all-expenses-paid trip to cheer him on from the sidelines.

“I don’t get to watch my brother (ski) very often,” she added. “It’s amazing. And Austria’s not so bad either.”

Duncan Fulton, chief marketing officer for FGL Sports Ltd., which owns Sports Chek, said in a statement that in the spirit of Family Day, Sport Chek, a new sponsor of Alpine Canada, understands that elite athletes make major sacrifices and spend lengthy periods of time away from home while training.

Rather than do traditional TV advertising and sponsorship, Fulton said the company thought that helping to make athletes and their families’ lives better would be a better way to invest their marketing dollars.

“It’s nice to see a corporation stepping out and doing things that are for the betterment of the athletes and their families,” said Janyk, who leaves for Austria Tuesday.

She said that it’s often been difficult over the years to spend time with her brother Mike and sister Britt, an elite skier who has retired.

“They have been travelling to Europe since they were 16, away for a month at a time,” said Janyk, a student in the film and international media program at Emily Carr University. “You get used to it, but it’s nice (for them) to have that family support and have a little bit of distraction from the stress.”

The parents of Toronto skier Phil Brown are also being sent to Austria by Sport Chek to support their son at the World Cup.

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Sport Chek sends Michael Janyk’s sister to Austria to cheer him on

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